Runtime: 94 minutes
Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Starring: Charles Bronson, Jacqueline Bisset, John Houseman, Maximilian Schell, Harris Yulin (RIP)
From: Warner Bros.
RIP Harris Yulin
Lost in the news cycle yesterday dominated by the death of the legendary Brian Wilson, Yulin had also passed away, at the age of 87. Never a leading man, he was happy to be a supporting player in a number of roles both on stage, television & the silver screen. Many will be like me and think “he was Bernstein in Scarface” when his face comes to mind. It was always nice see him pop up in everything from the underrated Stuart Saves his Family (where he played a toxic father) and Night Moves to 80’s trash like Fatal Beauty and another recognizable role, him as Judge Wexler in the opening act of Ghostbusters II.
St. Ives had never been viewed before; the selection was due to lead Charles Bronson, director J. Lee Thompson, a number of other familiar character actors besides Yulin, a score from Lalo Schifrin-which proved to be a sweet jazzy/funky affair-and yeah, lead girl Jacqueline Bisset. It had a rather intriguing premise: mystery writer Raymond St. Ives is hired by a burglar to retrieve plans for his next heist, which were ironically stolen from him in a burglary.
It is a film noir-flavored tale which isn’t as great as many of the famous names in the genre from the 40’s and 50’s yet was still a fun time. It certainly was as intricate as some noirs from the past. Even w/ its faults, for me, always nice seeing the leads plus character actors as varied as John Houseman, Maximilian Schell, Yulin, Elisha Cook, Jr., Dana Elcar, Michael Lerner, Dick O’Neil, George Memmoli… heck, for a few minutes St. Ives was accosted by a trio of hoodlums, two of whom were Robert Englund and Jeff Goldblum.
Other things amused me… a key moment occurring at a drive-in, what looked to be a Burberry briefcase, a kill that I thought was done first in the OG My Bloody Valentine but I was mistaken as it happened here. My affinity for movies like this plus the charm of Bronson and the score helped made this pretty good in my eyes. While Yulin was only in a few scenes, his performance was memorable-thus, a nice way to tip my cap to him.
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